Imagine two teenagers — one a GI, the other the daughter of a career military man — falling in love on an Army base in Germany in the 1970s. They are parted when the girl’s father is transferred back to the United States.
Forty-five years later, they re-connect via the internet. After all these years, they are still in love.
Sounds like a romance novel, right? Actually, it’s the true story of Peggy Maher-Daniels, a Wilmington University adjunct, who shares her experience of reclaimed love in her book, “In Pursuit of Peggy.”
“It’s basically an autobiographical romance, written in diary form,” she says.
Maher-Daniels teaches Business Leadership and Human Resources at WilmU. She is also director of HR at Basciani Foods in Avondale, Pennsylvania. She wrote her first book, “Dumber Than a Box of Hair,” in 2016.
“It’s a compilation of all the crazy things people do to get themselves fired, like the bank teller who set up her boyfriend to rob the teller who worked next to her. The boyfriend wore the same hat and jacket to a happy hour he attended the week before, and the teller he robbed identified him instantly,” she says.
Maher-Daniels combines work-ing with pursuing education and passion projects. “I am a bundle of energy. I love teaching. I love human resources. I love traveling,” she says. “I don’t watch television. If you can manage your time well, it’s amazing what you can get done.”
During the pandemic, Maher-Daniels reignited her relationship with her old flame, who was identified in the book by his first name, Craig. She went online and discovered he was working in Iowa. Then she took a deep breath, picked up the phone, and left him a voicemail, hoping he wasn’t married or in a relationship.
Peggy Maher-Daniels
“Within two hours, he called me. When I heard his voice, my heart quivered,” she recalled.
Craig had been thinking about her, too, and had kept all her letters and photographs. Soon after, they met in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since then, they’ve maintained a long-distance relationship with frequent visits. Craig has been introduced to Maher-Daniels’ two grown sons. He’s divorced and has no children, and the two are exploring where they will live after Craig’s upcoming retirement.
This fall, they will travel to Nuremberg and revisit their favorite spots during their teenage courtship in Germany.
“I tell my students to write from their hearts, which is just what I did with my book,” she says. “I want to give people hope that they can be crazy in love.”
—Eileen Smith Dallabrida